State aims to reduce enrollment and raise incomes; critics say jobs are hard to come by in rural areas

Maine’s Republican administration wants to do to Medicaid what it did to food stamps: link the health program for low-income people to work requirements in the hope of reducing enrollment, raising incomes and prioritizing resources for children, the elderly and disabled.

The state is among several that plan to seek federal approval to apply work rules to certain able-bodied adults in its Medicaid program, which serves 270,000 people. To make the case, Maine officials say they will point to their record with food stamps.